Rihanna’s New Music Video Looks Perhaps Not As Great As Her New Single

“Only Girl in the World” may be the best thing to happen to Rihanna since she cut her hair and had that awesome triangle of strands hanging over her eye like a diva coif pirate, nicely signaling her transition from “good girl” to “bad girl” as her 2008 album title promised. While “Hard” and “Rude Boy” were okay pop songs, “Only Girl in the World” is spectacularly catchy, and therefore a big opportunity for Rihanna after her slew of eh. For her to keep it as addictive as it currently stands (we don’t know about you, but The Cut’s assorted friends have been talking about it and singing it in passing without shame all weekend), her music video will have to live up to its greatness, sartorially most of all. Over the weekend she revealed the first still from the video, in which she wears bloomers and a bra in a field with giant balloons flying at her. The diva pirate has become … a diva scarecrow.

The pressure to move away from the obvious dancing-in-a-club scenario and its inherently obvious wardrobe options is understandable, but perhaps for some young divas like Rihanna, the obvious is a better route than standing in a field like that with giant balls flying at her face. Besides, in all likelihood, Britney already wore that underwear to hump a pillowcase in one of her videos, so the concept isn’t entirely new.

Photo: Splash News

Rihanna’s look for a follow-up single to “Only Girl in the World,” “Say My Name,” isn’t quite envy-inducing, either. She filmed on the Lower East Side this weekend, still with the red hair, looking like she robbed the Joker’s daughter’s closet but couldn’t find shorts that were long enough to cover what look like Spanx. Perhaps fortunately, those nude tights things are not actually Spanx or the tops of control top panty hose, but cutoff fishnets, according to the Post. But really, is that an outfit one should wear when asking people to say her name?